Page 109 of Bound Bride
If anything's happened to her, I'll never forgive myself.
I shouldn't have left things for as long as I did.
I should have focused on her, even if it hurt to do so.
We skid into the kitchen and my heart lifts with the hope that she's in here, but all I'm greeted with is an empty room with congealed soup spilled over one counter.
Ethan charges past me and around one of the counters.
"Calvin!"
He's on the floor in a glistening pool of blood, exceptionally pale and one arm outstretched toward his phone that's half an inch too far away from his outstretched fingers.
"Calvin?!" Pain shoots through my knees as I drop to the floor and thrust my fingers against his clammy neck.
Behind me, Ethan's already calling for help.
Warm blood soaks into my pants, sending a terrifying chill down my spine, but thankfully, a weak, thready pulse rises to reach my fingers.
"B-Boss?" His eyes flutter weakly, struggling to open and then fighting to focus on me.
"Calvin, it will be alright. We're here. Ethan is getting help. Just hold on."
"B-Boss…" He turns his head and shifts his arm so I move my hand to his shoulder to keep him down on the ground.
"Calvin, where is Rose?"
"R-Rose?" His bleary eyes drift around the kitchen, then they settle back on me and he swallows thickly. "Rose… sh—… s'pposed t' call you…"
Call me? Every ounce of my restraint locks down on the urge to shake the answers from Calvin but the desperation is building.
If Calvin is in this state then I dare not think about what's happened to Rose.
"Did she do this?" Ethan asks over my shoulder.
"Mmm… no," Calvin croaks weakly. "Beat…ie."
"Beatie did this?" His words hit like a punch in the chest and I cup Calvin's clammy face. "Did she take Rose? Where did she go? Calvin, where did they go?"
"H-Her mom," Calvin croaks and he quickly dissolves into rapid, weak coughing. "She… w-went t'save her mom."
"Do you know where?"
Calvin's eyes flutter as we're joined by rushed, approaching footsteps.
Help is here, but I don't have time to wait for Calvin to be stabilized.
Maxim is dead and there's no guarantee Rose’s mother hasn't met the same fate.
"Boss—" Calvin's throat concaves deeply as he fights to remain focused on me. "Rose…pregnant. She did—… didn't w-want you t'feel… tricked."
A blanket of silence suddenly falls over me and I barely register the hands grabbing my arms and hauling me away from Calvin's body.
Trusted paramedics take my place while I stumble back against a counter painted in soup.
Rose is… pregnant?
Why wouldn't she tell me that?
